Mayoral foes seek high court hearing

At issue is eligibility of winner.

At issue is eligibility of winner.

December 22, 2008

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) -- Both candidates in last year's disputed mayoral election have asked the Indiana Supreme Court to decide whether the Republican who won the race was eligible to seek the office. The state appeals court last month ruled that the election results should be thrown out, finding that federal law barred winner Duke Bennett from being a political candidate because he worked at a mental health agency that received federal funding. Lawyers for Bennett, who remains in office, filed a request last week with the Supreme Court to overturn the appeals court decision. Democrat Kevin Burke, who was seeking re-election last year, also has asked the high court to hear the case. Bryan Babb, Bennett's attorney, said he expected the Supreme Court to take up the case because both sides have sought a hearing and since the appeals court decision effectively "vacated" the mayor's office. "It's almost a given," he said, although it could be weeks before the justices make any decision. Bennett became mayor at the beginning of this year after defeating Burke by 107 votes among some 12,000 cast in the 2007 election, which was a rematch of their 2003 campaign. Bennett's lawyers are asking the state Supreme Court to decide how broadly the federal Hatch Act should be applied to Indiana political candidates. Bennett's legal brief filed last week said he had an "essentially nonexistent" connection to a federally funded Head Start program operated by Hamilton Center Inc., the Terre Haute-based mental health system where he was operations director. The brief argues that allowing the appeals court decision to stand would unfairly dissuade otherwise qualified candidates from seeking public office. Lawyers for Burke, meanwhile, asked the court to decide the constitutionality of an Indiana law they say shows that Bennett was not eligible to run for mayor while working at the Hamilton Center. Burke also asks the Supreme Court to limit a possible special election -- which was ordered by the appeals court -- to just Bennett and Burke.